Find a safe place to park

Find a safe place to park

Unfortunately for all of us in the trucking industry, accidents are part of life. Some aren’t preventable, but many are. When you’re looking for a parking spot and getting ready to shut down for a break, you’re probably not thinking about risks and potential damages. But you absolutely should be!

Lately, there has been a rash of hit-and-run accidents involving our parked trucks. We get it: drivers have long days (or nights), and they’re exhausted by the end. However, you can’t let that be a reason to take short cuts in looking for a place to park. These accidents lead to repair and maintenance issues, which put a truck out of service and can wreck a team’s week while they wait for equipment. But more importantly, we’re very concerned about our drivers’ safety, particularly when they’re sleeping in a truck that’s not parked in a secure spot.

Here are some DOs and DON’Ts to help you find a safe place to shut down.

DO

Pre-plan your route so you can stop at a location with ample room

Park with tractor and trailer straight

Park toward the back of the lot to avoid the constant traffic of trucks

DON’T

Park at the end of the row. Try to remove yourself from the high-traffic areas

Squeeze through spaces that will force you to back up when you leave

Park across from locations where other trucks are required to back out of their spots.

When it comes to any sort of incident, we always remind our drivers to notify Tempus first! We’re here to provide guidance and assistance to help our drivers deal with these situations. We hope you all stay safe—and park safe—out there.